


When you fall, I will catch you (I’ll be waiting)

by asexualjuliet



Series: Everything Will Be Alright [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Jonathan Byers is a Damn Good big brother, Let Will Byers be happy, Poor Will Byers, post-episode: s01e08 The Upside Down
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-11-22 22:57:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20882048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asexualjuliet/pseuds/asexualjuliet
Summary: As hard as he tries, Will can’t escape the Upside Down.Or, the one where Will Byers is coughing up slugs and he doesn’t know why.





	When you fall, I will catch you (I’ll be waiting)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [comfort in the holding on just tight enough](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10542948) by [mayfieldsmayhem](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mayfieldsmayhem/pseuds/mayfieldsmayhem). 

> I love Will and I love Jonathan, so here. Hope you enjoy!
> 
> (If you’re not a fan of thinking about Will throwing up slugs, turn back now).
> 
> Title from Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper

It’s Christmas break and things are finally okay. Will sits in the living room, meticulously examining each present under the tree. 

“What are you doing?” his mother asks from the next room over, and Will can hear the smile in Jonathan’s voice when he replies “Documenting.”

Joyce is going on and on about runny potatoes when Will enters the kitchen, announcing that “It's definitely an Atari.”

“An a-what-i?” his mom asks, but she’s smiling her _ I’m lying _smile. 

“The green present. It's an Atari,” he says, humoring her anyway. “I felt Dustin's today, it's the same exact weight.”

“Really?” She asks, still smiling. 

“Yeah,” he says, before a wave of nausea hits him out of the blue, so strong that he wonders how he’s still on his feet. 

“We'll have to see, won't we?” His mother says, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he feels like he’s about to collapse, as he heads to the bathroom. “Hey, no more snooping!”

Will stops, breathing deep. “No, I forgot to wash my hands. I'll be right back.”

It’s like he can’t breathe as he closes the door behind him, and he gags as soon as he locks it. 

He can barely keep himself standing, his legs are shaky as he braces his arms on the sink to himself upright. He chokes something slimy up and spits it out, almost gagging again when he sees it, because _ why the hell is there a slug inside of him? _

He’s too pale when he looks at himself in the mirror, looks almost sick. Tears prick at his eyes. _ What’s _ happening _ to him? _

And then he’s back _ there_. Everything’s too dark. Covered in vines, and he can’t breathe because _ oh, God, he’s back there _ again.

But it’s gone as soon as it came. No vines, no slime. His chest is tight when he tries to breathe, but it’s better than nothing. 

Will takes a deep breath and wipes his face, taking shaky steps back out to the kitchen. 

“Are you okay?” His mother asks. 

“Yeah,” he says. 

(He’s so totally not, but there’s no way in _ hell _he’s telling her that).

-

He coughs two more up the next day, one the day after that. 

The Upside Down comes back each time. Cold and grey and suffocating. Each time, it’s hard to breathe. All he can do is choke until the slug finds its way down the drain. 

Will’s laying in bed, weak and cold and tired, when he feels the next one in his throat. 

He gets up and runs across the hall, chokes up another slug that crawls down the drain. He feels a sob start in his chest, and tears start to roll down his face, because he wants his mom but he can’t _ tell her _ that, because he _ doesn’t know what’s wrong with him_. 

Thoughts are racing through his mind, but the most coherent one is _ I want it to stop_.

He grips the sink so hard with one hand that his knuckles turn white. Takes the other hand and sticks a finger down his throat before he can stop himself. He gags loudly, coughing up nothing but bile before he hears footsteps at the door. 

“Will?” a voice says, and thank _ God _ it’s not his mother, but it’s Jonathan, and Jonathan could _ tell _ his mother and she would worry, and—

The door opens as Will’s sticking his finger up his throat again, because _ please let the slugs go away! _

“Will?” Jonathan asks again as Will heaves, shaky legs finally giving way. Jonathan catches him before he falls, sitting him down on the floor and pushing him in front of the toilet. 

And all of sudden he’s back there again, grey and barren, vines climbing up the walls, and everything is terrifying, and—

It’s gone.

“I got you,” Jonathan murmurs, rubbing Will’s back, and Will must be going _ crazy_, because Jonathan didn’t see the vines at all. Will retches again as Jonathan holds his hair back. “I got you, buddy.” 

Another slug comes up and Will _sobs_, and he _sobs_, and he _can’t_ _stop crying_. Jonathan’s petting his hair and whispering, “Hey, you’re okay, you’ll be okay, I promise.”

Will sobs again, and he wants to tell Jonathan what’s happening to him, but all that comes out is “It was _ inside _ of me, Jonathan!” before he dissolves into tears again. 

“What?” Jonathan asks gently, worry in his eyes. 

“The slugs, the _ slugs_, Jonathan, they’re _ inside _ of me!” he sobs, “and they keep coming and I—I want them to stop!”

“Hey, you’re okay,” Jonathan says as Will buries his face in his shirt. 

“I want them to go away!” He cries weakly, voice breaking. 

“Shh, I know, buddy, I know, I got you, you’re going to be okay, I promise,” Jonathan mumbles, rubbing Will’s back as he sobs. 

“I’m _ scared_, Jonathan,” whines the small voice into his t-shirt. 

“I know, I know, I got you, okay?” Jonathan says. Will looks up at his brother with tired eyes and the saddest face Jonathan’s ever seen before Jonathan gets up to get a paper cup of water and flush the slug (holy shit, it _ is _a slug) down the toilet. He sits down opposite Will, holding the water out for Will to take, guiding his shaky hands in the right direction. 

“Hey, let’s go,” Jonathan says once Will’s finished the water, gently scooping him up off the floor and carrying him back across the hallway. He sets Will down on his bed and lays down next to him. 

Will sniffles, and Jonathan wraps his arms around him, wiping the sweat off his forehead. “You’re going to be okay,” he whispers as tears start to fall down Will’s face again. “You’re okay.”

Will just cries, and Jonathan pulls him closer, placing a kiss on the top of his head and running a hand through his hair. “I’m here,” he says. “Go to sleep, Will.”

It might take an hour, it might take five minutes, but Jonathan lays there and hugs his brother tight until he drifts off. 

He’s too young. Too small and sweet and starry-eyed to have gone through hell and back the way he did. 

Jonathan wishes it was him. 

But it’s not, so he lays there. Holds Will close. Whispers into the darkness. 

“I’m never going to let them hurt you again.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> All mistakes are my own, please let me know if you see any!
> 
> Kudos/Comments are greatly appreciated!


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